As part of her prize, she has won a USD $45,000 scholarship to Lindenwood University.

The home-educated high school senior is preparing for a career as a political correspondent and boasts an impressive list of achievements that helped secure her the title – as well as a spot in America’s biggest teen pageant in the Bahamas next year.

Hosanna Kobakoro with former First Lady Laura Bush at the Prudential Spirit of Community State Awards ceremony in May. Photo: HSLDA

She is a US Congressional Award gold medallist, a National Discover Scholar, recipient of the 2009 Jefferson Award, and was recognised by former First Lady Laura Bush as one of American’s top 50 high school volunteers.

One of the programmes she founded, 2 Way Street, is aimed at helping refugees and at-risk immigrant youth adjust to life in the United States through public service, education and mentorship avenues.

“[The pageant] is not about beauty, boobs and bimbos,” said Kobakoro.

“It’s about empowered, confident young women making a difference in our communities through service, with style, grace and determination.”

Fiji childhood
“I love Idaho but my heart will always be home in Cakaudrove,” Kobakoro, who has dual citizenship, told the Fiji Times earlier this year.

Her parents, Ratu Lavisai Kabakoro of Cakaudrove and Summer Kabakoro, originally from Hawai’i, ran a free medical clinic in Naweni village. They migrated as a family to the United States three years ago, several years after a group of attackers raided their home during the 2000 coup and forced them to move to Suva.

“I miss the sound of the ocean crashing on the reef at night and the smell of the kerosene stove when my Nana makes us tea. I miss coconut oil and Punja’s tea and breakfast crackers and jalebi and the fish and chips from the place on Cummings Street,” she said.

Kobakoro added that she hoped to eventually return to Fiji and earn a law degree at the University of the South Pacific.

Miss Teen USA is an offshoot of the national Miss America pageant and targeted at young women aged 15-19. It is operated by the Miss Universe organisation.